Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Want some Christmas decor that looks vintage, like you inherited it from your grandparents? Shop Uncommon Objects on SoCo. Just about anything else sufficiently old and odd can be yours this great institution as well. Happy Christmas shopping and keep it weird.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Little garden plots on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge are tended by civic-minded companies or people. These roses were opening up on a beautiful Thanksgiving day. Today it is raining and we are very thankful for that.

Monday, November 21, 2011

I love when people select interesting colors and paint their exteriors. If one had a home and wanted to see how certain combos would look if you painted the house and trim that way they could just scout around and check it out. This one is in Clarksville. I'm a big fan of yellow. The peach-colored door, though, is an interesting choice but seems to work.

Friday, November 18, 2011

My 91-year-old mother died in front of my eyes Wednesday. She had been fussing to us about “feeling rough” and she decided that the problem was the street construction in front of her house exciting her allergies.

Her remedy for that was to ask me to come get her and take her for a drive so she wouldn’t have to listen to the thumping and grinding of the machinery for a while.When I arrived at her home, she said that LifeLine had called and said that their unit wasn’t getting any power. So I got on the phone with them, with my back turned to my mother, who was sitting on the side of her bed.

When I hung up from that conversation, I turned around and in that instant, she went unconscious and fell off the bed and onto the floor.No response.I called EMS and they had a truck there in about three or four minutes.Amazing.They managed to get her heart restarted, but when we got her to the hospital, it was obvious it was hopeless and she expired after about an hour. Honestly, I think that she had subconsciously willed herself to last until I arrived to have the attack. (If that is possible, believe me, she would have done it.)

She lived a long life, the way she wanted it.This photo is of my parents either on a date or shortly after they got married—I always marveled at how well turned out they both were in shots like this one—dad in a tie and hat and mother all spiffy.She and my dad were unusual in this world of constant change: married for 72 years and in the same house for 70 years. My dad died this January.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I was visiting a friend in the Milago Condos on Rainey Street the other day and whipped out my camera to get a picture of the view from there but Dixie and Frieda caught my eye, relaxing, their work put aside for the moment.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Last weekend (and next, too) there is a massive art tour of studios called East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.). Sunday we went to a few spots in an area of east Austin called French Place. Jennifer Balkan poses here with one of her paintings. She's one of our favorites and has appeared in these pages and couple of other times: here and here. She had a show in a gallery in our neighborhood, too, in 2008.

Monday, November 14, 2011

We attended a fundraiser for the Pease Park Conservancy a couple of weeks ago and heard music from the Ephraim Owens Quartet, which provided a sweet background for the festivities. The guys were playing outdoors on the grounds of the hosts' house, which overlooks the park. The night was chilly, so they had to bundle up.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Spotted this in a yard on Rosewood on the east side. What at first looks like a derelict old home is actually a scale model, sitting outside on a table outside heaped with twigs. This weekend (and next) the entire east side is filled with open art galleries exhibiting their wares in the E.A.S.T (East Austin Studio Tour) but I snapped this on an ordinary day, one of those when life itself seems to be art.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Over in Old West Austin there is a tree that is had to get a little support for one of its branches. It is usually live oaks that get these rangy branches they can't support that require props. This one, however, appeared to be some other sort of oak.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

We didn't go to Fun Fun Fun Fest but we did walk by. So many people arrived by bike that the racks provided were exhausted and bikes were also chained all along the Drake Ped bridge. This is a view of the sea of bikes attached to racks near Auditorium Shores.

Friday, November 4, 2011

The owner might be a part of Occupy Austin. (Our home is near the encampment and there is that 99% sticker.) But old Beetles like this are sort of rare these days. Confession: I had several decades ago that were even older!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

We were walking on the east side the other day enjoying beautiful weather and some Day of the Dead shrines in people's yards when I noticed this car port. There were neckties tied to bars on both sides of it. I wonder why? It wasn't a yard sale but more of a permanent installation.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Sure we celebrate Halloween on October 31. (Or when it's on a Monday like it was this year we celebrate it on Saturday, Sunday AND Monday.) But November 1 is All Saint's Day and November 2 is All Soul's Day and for some folks and for our Mexican neighbors the Day of the Dead is celebrated. Shrines are erected to relatives and friends who are gone. This simple outdoor one was at the Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center when we walked on the eastern part of the hike and bike trail yesterday. Here is a picture from four years ago at Fonda San Miguel of their shrine.

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What is This?

A picture a day. Every picture taken within the confines of Austin, Texas, U.S.A. More or less. If it isn't a current shot, we will try to note when it was taken. We are part of the City Daily Photo family. Which has a facebook group. Here's the Official View of Austin.